The Political Voices of Women

As readers of Citizen Jane Politics know, CJP is fascinated by political wives. As this generation of male politicians has come of age, we couldn’t help but notice how many of their wives are brainy, beautiful, incredibly accomplished in their own right, and stuck in a job that seems like a being a cross between Donna Reed and Scott Reed.But the toughest part of the job is as old as time- political wives having to “stand by their man” when the worst happens.

Since John Edwards’ affair became public, we’ve thought a great deal about what unites the women who unite behind the men who have embarrassed them so publicly. In addition to their private emotions, which we’ll never know, we’ve come up with a few common themes that define their public lives:

• Many have given up their careers for his. Silda Spitzer is a Harvard-trained lawyer; Hillary Clinton went to Yale Law; Wendy Vitter graduated from Tulane Law and became Chief of Trials for the New Orleans D.A.; Elizabeth Edwards was a successful lawyer in private practice before stepping back to raise her family.
• They’re as much a part of the political persona as he is. Many of these women are, ironically, their husband’s closest advisers; Hillary Clinton was only the most public. Think of it as a company the couple started together named “Senator X.” The women leaving their husbands would be like the C.O.O. quitting if the C.E.O. stole from their shareholders.
• Their platforms come from him. Elizabeth Edwards became a vocal proponent for universal health care in 2008; HRC had a running start for the Senate and the White House by 2000. Sadly, it’s easier to fight for a cause as a First Lady than as an ex-wife.
• And finally, they’re preserving their families for as long as possible. Dina McGreevey, the ex-wife of former New Jersey governor Jim McGreevey (above left), said she stood by her husband at a press conference when he announced he was gay because she wanted her daughter to know she’d supported her father when he needed it most. The McGreevey’s have since divorced, but her instinct to circle the family wagons at the greatest time of crisis is a regular refrain in the life of a scandal.

Of course, anything can happen once these women have a chance to leave the public eye. After all, Tammy Wynette’s other hit in 1968, in addition to “Stand by Your Man,” was “D-I-V-O-R-C-E.”

When news of the John Edwards affair broke yesterday, it was very shocking. I had heard the rumors, but always assumed they were untrue. I didn’t watch the Nightline interview last night, but just in case you wanted to see it, and missed it. Here is the full interview, in two parts, and some of the reaction and commentary from around the web. I hope you’ll let me know what you think about this in comments.

John Edwards interview on ABC…

Part One

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Part Two




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Tami Winfrey Harris, contributing editor to The Political Voices of Women, wrote a very personal response to the shocking news about John Edwards…

I Am Disappointed In You, John Edwards…

Long time readers know that I was a supporter of John Edwards’ presidential campaign. I believed in his platform and thought he would make a wonderful president of the United States. You know, I still believe in his platform, but I am woefully disappointed in the man. On the one hand, I don’t think sexual habits have anything to do with the ability to be a leader. The list of unfaithful men who Americans swoon over is long: From Thomas Jefferson to JFK to MLK. And none of my Republican friends better say one word to me about this, as their presidential candidate is married to his former mistress.

But I am disappointed that powerful men, even the ones that seem “better than that” seem always to live down to the public’s lowest expectations of them.

read full post here

There was an interesting comment on a post about Hillary, it’s a look at the John Edwards scandal from another point of view…

Re: Senator Edwards
From all the news coverage tonight I didn’t hear one word on the question of whether Senator Obama wins the nomination if Senator Edward tells the truth last year when the story broke.
Does anyone really believe that Senator Clinton looses the Iowa caucuses if Senator Edwards is not in the race, especially after the landslide of working class voters who supported Senator Clinton after Senator Edwards left the race?
And what of the value of the Edwards endorsement, the timing of which stepped all over an important moment for Senator Clinton.
So all of the above leads to the question of motive. Was it just revenge for perceived slights during the 2004 campaign? Will some one at least try to find out?
And finally, exactly how hard did the media investigate the Edwards story when it mattered.
I find it hard to believe that if the story was reversed, the “What if” questions and investigation of motive would not have been a center point of the story.
Fraud has been committed against the members of the Democratic Party potentially resulting in an illegitimate nominee. But not one word uttered about it.

Denise from BlogHer, wrote a post on The Edwards Affair, that has many comments from the women of BlogHer…

For months we’ve heard John Edwards deny rumors that he had an affair with Rielle Hunter. He’s also denied being the father of Hunter’s baby. Today, he revealed that he did, after all, have an affair with Hunter but continues to deny paternity. The blogosphere is buzzing.

Sister Toldjah says Looks like The Enquirer got it right after all and questions the MSM’s handling of the story.

. . .

Some of us are saying this is not news, this is not a story, this is no big deal… And the blog posts just keep rolling in. The tweets continue to fly.

Are you tweeting it or blogging it? Are you talking about it offline with coworkers, family and friends? IS this news? Does this matter to you?

The MOMocrats also had a strong response to a man they were supporting as president…

Top ten reasons I’m done with this John Edwards affair (and you should be too)

Elizabeth Edwards responds to news of affair

John Edwards hops aboard the bad judgement express

Also See:

Erin Kotecki Vest wrote for The Huffington Post…Edwards Affair: A Hard Lesson For The Left Half of the Blogosphere.

PunditMom wrote Political Rule #1 — If You Want To Be President, Keep It In Your Pants.

The Politico story has almost 1800 comments.

The New York Times - Edwards Admits to Affair in 2006

Well, if you are over your shock (and I’m not quite there yet), please let me know how you feel about the John Edwards affair in comments.

Also…Do you think if voters knew of this before the primaries, that the outcome of the election would have been different?

Damn you, John Edwards!

STATEMENT OF SENATOR JOHN EDWARDS
August 8, 2008Chapel Hill, North Carolina

In 2006, I made a serious error in judgment and conducted myself in a way that was disloyal to my family and to my core beliefs. I recognized my mistake and I told my wife that I had a liaison with another woman, and I asked for her forgiveness. Although I was honest in every painful detail with my family, I did not tell the public. When a supermarket tabloid told a version of the story, I used the fact that the story contained many falsities to deny it. But being 99% honest is no longer enough.

I was and am ashamed of my conduct and choices, and I had hoped that it would never become public. With my family, I took responsibility for my actions in 2006 and today I take full responsibility publicly. But that misconduct took place for a short period in 2006. It ended then. I am and have been willing to take any test necessary to establish the fact that I am not the father of any baby, and I am truly hopeful that a test will be done so this fact can be definitively established. I only know that the apparent father has said publicly that he is the father of the baby. I also have not been engaged in any activity of any description that requested, agreed to or supported payments of any kind to the woman or to the apparent father of the baby.

It is inadequate to say to the people who believed in me that I am sorry, as it is inadequate to say to the people who love me that I am sorry. In the course of several campaigns, I started to believe that I was special and became increasingly egocentric and narcissistic. If you want to beat me up — feel free. You cannot beat me up more than I have already beaten up myself. I have been stripped bare and will now work with everything I have to help my family and others who need my help.

I have given a complete interview on this matter and having done so, will have nothing more to say.

Long time readers know that I was a supporter of John Edwards’ presidential campaign. I believed in his platform and thought he would make a wonderful president of the United States. You know, I still believe in his platform, but I am woefully disappointed in the man. On the one hand, I don’t think sexual habits have anything to do with the ability to be a leader. The list of unfaithful men who Americans swoon over is long: From Thomas Jefferson to JFK to MLK. And none of my Republican friends better say one word to me about this, as their presidential candidate is married to his former mistress.

But I am disappointed that powerful men, even the ones that seem “better than that” seem always to live down to the public’s lowest expectations of them.

I am disappointed that another family has to suffer through pain inflicted by a callous father who cannot put his sexual needs behind the welfare of his family–and this family has already suffered through enough pain, including the death of a child and Elizabeth Edwards’ cancer. I hope to God that Edwards’ “handlers” don’t subject his wife to tawdry photo ops and press conferences where she must stand mutely in support of her man.

I am disappointed that someone who could have done a lot of good as a leader may have thrown his career away…and for what?

I am disappointed in John Edwards’ overweening ego. How do you enter the presidential primary process at a time when a Democratic win is imperative for the survival of the country and Constitution, knowing that you have recently had an affair and that your paramour is having a baby, and knowing that the press is on to the story (HuffPo wrote about the rumors back in Sept. 2007)? If Edwards had become the Democratic candidate instead of Barack Obama, this little revelation would surely have cost the party November and stuck the country with four more years of shitty government. Really–what kind of egomaniac do you have to be to take that chance?

I am disappointed that some jackass just called the political radio show that I am listening to and proclaimed, “I used to think John Edwards was ’soft,’ but this makes me think he is a regular guy. I like him now.” WTF?

I am disappointed that we, as a public, are going to be all titillated about this for weeks on end. Gleefully dissecting the Edwards’ marriage and acting like this affair means more to us than the people truly involved.

I am just damned disappointed. Period.

[Crossposted from What Tami Said]

John Edwards Speech on his Endorsement of Barack Obama - Part One

John Edwards Speech on his Endorsement of Obama - Part Two

Breaking: John Edwards To Endorse Barack Obama

It is being reported that John Edwards will endorse Barack Obama later tonight.

May 10, 2008 - Posted by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at The Care2 Election Blog)

I’ve had a crazy week, but I still wanted to pull a quick Election Blog Roundup together. Let’s start with an interview with John Edwards on the Today Show, and then look at what what bloggers are talking about.

From Tennessee Guerilla Women…

The only question about West Virginia is how bitterly is Obama going to get stomped? American Research Group calls it for Hillary at 66-23. Heh. Big Tent Dem has details. Kentucky? Rasmussen Reports (May 5) has Hillary stomping Obama 56-31.

Hillary Rodham Clinton can still win the nomination and be Madame President as long as no one takes the Obama News Network seriously. That shouldn’t be too hard.

Read all about it at Corrente…

From Talking Points Memo…

Rep. Tim Mahoney, an uncommitted super-del, is getting aggressively courted by both Hillary and Obama, but to no avail, it turns out.

Mahoney met privately with Hillary yesterday, and today with Obama.

But whatever charm was exercised on him by these two candidates behind closed doors apparently didn’t sway him. Mahoney’s spokesperson, Leslie Pollner, told me a few moments ago:

“He intends to remain uncommitted.”

Read more »

Peggy Ronning from The NonSilent Majority posted about an article by Elizabeth Edwards in the New York Times today. Elizabeth Edwards is calling the media out on their lack of substantive coverage of election issues, and that is something we all should be doing. Here is an excerpt from her article, but I recommend you read the whole thing.

FOR the last month, news media attention was focused on Pennsylvania and its Democratic primary. Given the gargantuan effort, what did we learn?

Well, the rancor of the campaign was covered. The amount of money spent was covered. But in Pennsylvania, as in the rest of the country this political season, the information about the candidates’ priorities, policies and principles — information that voters will need to choose the next president — too often did not make the cut. After having spent more than a year on the campaign trail with my husband, John Edwards, I’m not surprised.

Why? Here’s my guess: The vigorous press that was deemed an essential part of democracy at our country’s inception is now consigned to smaller venues, to the Internet and, in the mainstream media, to occasional articles. I am not suggesting that every journalist for a mainstream media outlet is neglecting his or her duties to the public. And I know that serious newspapers and magazines run analytical articles, and public television broadcasts longer, more probing segments.

But I am saying that every analysis that is shortened, every corner that is cut, moves us further away from the truth until what is left is the Cliffs Notes of the news, or what I call strobe-light journalism, in which the outlines are accurate enough but we cannot really see the whole picture.

READ FULL ARTICLE AT THE NEW YORK TIMES

More Political Voices of Women…

We now have over 400 women political bloggers on our list, here are the G’s…

Georgia Women Vote — A view of the Georgia political scene from the perspective of a Democratic women. We cover the local politics, events, legislation, opinion, and the occasional gossip!

Get The Facts & Get Involved

Girl With Pen

Gloria Feldt - HeartFeldt Politics Blog

Golden Apple Press

GOP Vixen — The blog of columnist Bridget Johnson

GOTV with contributing editor, Alice

Granny Geek

GRAPEVINE — Georgia Federation of Democratic Women

Great Satans Girlfriend - courtney is an awesome discovery and she NEVER minces words.

Green Consciousness

Grizzly Mama

Why Is Life Expectancy For Women Going Down In America? - by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at BlogHer)

A new study has found that the life expectancy for women in the United States is on the decline. But don’t worry, this is not something that will affect ALL women in our country - just the poor women.

Even more troubling, is that the study doesn’t include any statistics after 1999. What that means is, the Bush years have not been figured into these statistics. I can only imagine how the last eight years of the Bush administration have impacted the reality of these numbers.

It seems like it wasn’t that long ago, that I heard how the US life expectancy had slipped in ranking from 11th to 42nd, behind most European countries.

John Edwards was absolutely right when he talked about two Americas. Try to picture America on one side, and a third-world country on the other. Now picture that third-world country within the United States. Thanks to a failing economy and a serious health care crisis, that is exactly what we face today. It’s really not surprising at all. Very sad, but not surprising.


From The New York Times…

Life expectancy has long been growing steadily for most Americans. But it has not for a significant minority, according to a new study, which finds a growing disparity in mortality depending on race, income and geography.

The study, published Monday in the online journal PLoS, analyzed life expectancy in all 3,141 counties in the United States from 1961 to 1999, the latest year for which complete data have been released by the National Center for Health Statistics. Although life span has generally increased since 1961, the authors reported, it began to level off or even decline in the 1980s for 4 percent of men and 19 percent of women.

“It’s very troubling that there are parts of the wealthiest country in the world, with the highest health spending in the world, where health is getting worse,” said Majid Ezzati, the lead author and an associate professor of international health at Harvard. It is a phenomenon, he added, “unheard of in any other developed country.”

Listen to an interview on NPR…

Women in the southern part of the U.S. are dying earlier than before, according to a new study of life expectancy among women in the deep south and lower Midwest. The study’s lead author, Dr. Christopher Murray, explains the findings. And Dr. Wendy Klein, who specializes in women’s health, discusses what could be causing the change.

This is from a post at Momathon Blog

Women in the U.S. aren’t living as long these days. Can we blame it on the increase in obesity, high blood pressure, smoking and chronic illnesses related to these health concerns? One of every five American women (compared to only one of every 25 men) are dying at a younger age or seeing no improvement in life span according to a new study by researchers at Harvard University and the University of Washington. That works out to be a decline average of 1.3 years in 180 counties mainly in the south and certain rural areas. The decline is not the same in all parts of the country. That raises the question: What is causing the deadly trend? And why are life expectancies not on the decline for other Western nations?

This is from Crooks and Liars…

Now it would be easy to take the Republican route and blame this on individual lifestyle choices rather than looking at this as a symptom of inequality of care. PBS has just recently offered a series titled “Unnatural Causes: is inequality making us sick?” showing how our position in society affects our health. Executive Producer Larry Adelman wrote about it at the AFL-CIOblog.

This is from Healthy Moms…

There is a lot of discussion about a recent study done in the late 1990’s that concluded that the life expectancy rate in American women is declining. On AmericaBlog.com readers are blaming Republicans and the current administration for the decline. I don’t understand why since the study was done before President Bush was elected. Anyway enough of my politics. I thought that this story would be fitting because most of my readers are women.

It would be easy to look at this study and assume that these women are choosing an unhealthy lifestyle, and therefore contributing to the health conditions that are causing them to die at a younger age. But when you look closer, it’s clear that poverty and a lack of adequate healthcare is the underlying cause. I hope these new findings will be a catalyst in helping to bridge the gap between poverty and wellness.

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan, also at The Care2 Election Blog

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More Political Voices of Women…

We now have over 400 women political bloggers on our list, here are the D’s…

Read more »

Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and Barack Obama on The Colbert Report — by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at the Care2 Election Blog)

Last night Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards all appeared on the Colbert Report. John Edwards was by far the best…

See clips of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on Colbert here.

This is from a post by PunditMom.

I was hoping that I’d get a little help with the Super Tuesday outcome in arriving at a final decision about who is going to get my vote in the Democratic primary I vote in next week.

I’m not the only MOMocrat who’s having a teensy problem trying to let go of my support for former candidate John Edwards and deciding whether Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama will get my vote.

I didn’t expect last night to be a blow-out, but I was keeping my fingers crossed that there would be a sign, an inkling of which of the two Dem candidates were pulling ahead to give a little push to the ambivalence I feel now — at this point, my decision is going to be based more on electability than position papers.

Not a good thing to hear from PunditMom, I know, but there you have it — the pragmatist in me winning over the optimistic idealogue.

But this morning there is no hint of which way this will break in the end.

Read this full post at PunditMom